diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 343f695..317792b 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "conch-parser 0.1.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "conch-runtime 0.1.4 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "tokio-core 0.1.17 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "vt6 0.0.1",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -713,6 +714,10 @@ name = "void"
 version = "1.0.2"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "vt6"
+version = "0.0.1"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "winapi"
 version = "0.2.8"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index d7ccf4e..8f3bd59 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -7,3 +7,4 @@ authors = ["lærling <laerling@posteo.de>"]
 conch-parser = "^0.1.0"
 conch-runtime = "^0.1.4"
 tokio-core = "^0.1.17"
+vt6 = { path = "../vt6.rs/vt6" }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/connection.rs b/src/connection.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..69e94ac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/connection.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+/*******************************************************************************
+ *
+ * Copyright 2018 lærling <laerling@posteo.de>
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
+ * the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
+ * Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later
+ * version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
+ * WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR
+ * A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
+ * this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ *
+ *******************************************************************************/
+
+use std::env::vars;
+use std::io;
+use std::io::Write;
+use std::os::unix::net::UnixStream;
+use std::path::PathBuf;
+use std::io::Error;
+use std::io::ErrorKind;
+use vt6::common::core::msg::Message;
+use std::io::Read;
+
+const BUF_SIZE: usize = 1024;
+
+/// Encapsulates the server connection
+pub struct Connection {
+    stream: UnixStream,
+    buffer: [u8; BUF_SIZE],
+}
+
+impl Connection {
+
+    /// finds the vt6 socket and connects to it, returning a new connection object
+    pub fn new() -> Result<Connection, io::Error> {
+
+        if let Some(vt6_socket_var) = vars().find(|var| var.0 == "VT6") {
+            let con = Connection {
+                stream: match UnixStream::connect(PathBuf::from(&vt6_socket_var.1)) {
+                    Ok(stream) => stream,
+                    Err(e) => {
+                        eprintln!("Cannot connect to socket '{}'", vt6_socket_var.1);
+                        panic!(e); // TODO: Only in debug profile, else exit with 1
+                    },
+                },
+                buffer: [0; BUF_SIZE],
+            };
+            return Ok(con);
+        }
+
+        Err(Error::new(ErrorKind::NotFound, "VT6 server socket not found."))
+    }
+
+    /// sends a message and waits for the response (synchronously)
+    pub fn send_and_receive(&mut self, msg: &str) -> (Message, usize) {
+
+        // send
+        self.stream.write_all(msg.as_bytes()).unwrap(); // TODO: Use vt6 messages
+
+        // read until there is something that can be parsed
+        let mut buffer_offset: usize = 0;
+        loop {
+
+            // read into buffer...
+            let bytes_read = match self.stream.read(&mut self.buffer[buffer_offset..]) {
+                Ok(b) => b,
+                Err(e) => {
+                    eprintln!("Connection to server socket lost");
+                    panic!(e); // TODO: Only in debug profile, else exit with 1
+                }
+            };
+
+            // adjust offset for next read
+            buffer_offset += bytes_read;
+
+            // ...until there is something that can be parsed
+            match Message::parse(&self.buffer[..buffer_offset]) {
+                Ok(_) => break,
+                Err(_) => {}, // continue
+            }
+        }
+
+        return Message::parse(&self.buffer[..buffer_offset]).unwrap();
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 9b05c30..2e88bec 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@
 extern crate conch_parser;
 extern crate conch_runtime;
 extern crate tokio_core;
+extern crate vt6;
 
 use conch_parser::lexer::Lexer;
 use conch_parser::parse::DefaultParser;
@@ -32,6 +33,8 @@ use std::option::Option;
 use tokio_core::reactor::Core;
 use std::process::exit;
 
+mod connection;
+
 fn repl<T: io::BufRead>(script: &mut T) -> io::Result<()> {
 
     // make event loop
@@ -79,6 +82,12 @@ fn repl<T: io::BufRead>(script: &mut T) -> io::Result<()> {
 
 fn main() {
 
+    // FIXME temp
+    let mut con = connection::Connection::new().unwrap();
+    println!("main: core: {}", con.send_and_receive("{3|4:want,4:core,1:1,}").0);
+    println!("main: LmAo: {}", con.send_and_receive("{3|4:want,4:LmAo,1:1,}").0);
+    std::process::exit(0);
+
     // evaluate command line argument
     let eval_result = match env::args().nth(1) {